A 26-year-old man was sentenced to seven months in jail after climbing into his neighbour’s apartment through the balcony at night and attempting to molest the female occupant while she slept.
When caught, he was so frightened that he urinated on himself.
Break-in and Attempted Molestation
Indian national Erakkodan Abinraj, 26, faced charges of attempted molestation and housebreaking.
On 5 Mar 2025, he pleaded guilty to the molestation charge, with the other charge taken into consideration for sentencing.
To protect the victim, the court ordered media not to report any information that could reveal her identity.
According to case details, the accused lived in an apartment with five colleagues for about a year at the time of the incident.
He was a neighbour to the 36-year-old victim, occasionally running into her. The victim lived with her husband and daughter.
On the night of 21 Sep 2024, the victim and her husband were asleep in the master bedroom, while their daughter slept in another room.
Around 4:50 AM on 22 Sep 2024, the accused climbed into the victim’s unit through the kitchen balcony, using his phone’s flashlight function for illumination.
He walked around the kitchen and living room, even pausing to look at the victim’s family photo.
Caught in the Act
The accused later entered the master bedroom and found the victim and her husband sleeping.
Seeing the female homeowner wearing only a T-shirt and underwear, he stood beside the bed and attempted to pull down her underwear.
The victim woke up startled and screamed when she saw the accused standing in the room with a flashlight.
Her husband woke up and questioned the accused, demanding he leave the bedroom. As he left the room, the accused urinated on himself out of fear.
The victim’s husband then directed the accused to sit in the living room. The accused repeatedly begged the couple not to report the incident.
After the victim called the police, the accused remained until police arrived.
During the investigation, the accused admitted to trespassing into the victim’s unit but falsely claimed that the victim woke up because his phone fell on her, denying any attempt to molest her.
The prosecution noted that a home is meant to be a safe private space for victims, and the accused had broken into the victim’s home in the middle of the night and lied to police during the investigation.
They requested a jail term of six to eight months.
The defense lawyer pleaded for leniency, stating that the accused had been working in Singapore for a year and a half and was affected by his grandmother’s suicide at the time.
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